Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.79) by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 7.18%. The firm had revenue of $136.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.47 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.65) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Northwest Natural updated its FY24 guidance to $2.20-2.40 EPS.

Northwest Natural Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE NWN traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.06. 12,944 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 278,141. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.55. Northwest Natural has a one year low of $34.82 and a one year high of $42.56.

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.66%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural’s payout ratio is 89.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Northwest Natural from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $43.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Northwest Natural Company Profile

Northwest Natural Holding Company, through its subsidiary, Northwest Natural Gas Company, provides regulated natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the United States. The company operates a mist gas storage facility contracted to other utilities, third-party marketers, and electric generators; offers natural gas asset management services; and operates an appliance retail center.